DoomsdaysCW<p>Only Two Republicans Voted Against <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> Defunding <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SesameStreet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SesameStreet</span></a> </p><p>Senate <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Republicans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Republicans</span></a> just took a wrecking ball to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicBroadcasting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PublicBroadcasting</span></a>.</p><p>Malcolm Ferguson<br>July 17, 2025</p><p>"Only two Republican senators broke the line to vote against their party’s plan to defund the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporationForPublicBroadcasting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CorporationForPublicBroadcasting</span></a>. </p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Alaska" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Alaska</span></a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LisaMurkowski" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LisaMurkowski</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Maine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maine</span></a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SusanCollins" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SusanCollins</span></a> joined Senate Democrats in opposition to Republican cuts to organizations like PBS and NPR, and the smaller stations that they fund. While PBS and NPR would still continue at the national level, the cuts would likely devastate those local stations that rely on them. </p><p>"The Senate approved $9 billion dollars of cuts early Thursday morning, with $1.1 billion in cuts to public broadcasting and $8.8 billion from foreign aid programs like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/USAID" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>USAID</span></a>, which <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ElonMusk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ElonMusk</span></a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DOGE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DOGE</span></a> slashed earlier this year. </p><p>" 'The vast majority of this funding, more than 70 percent, actually flows to local television and radio stations,' Collins said last month during an earlier stage of the deliberation. 'In <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Maine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maine</span></a>, this funding supports everything from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EmergencyCommunications" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EmergencyCommunications</span></a> in rural areas to coverage of high school basketball championships and [a] locally produced high school quiz show. Nationally produced television programs such as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AntiquesRoadshow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AntiquesRoadshow</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DanielTigersNeighborhood" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DanielTigersNeighborhood</span></a>, are also enjoyed by many throughout our country.' </p><p>" 'I understand … the concern about subsidizing the national radio news programming that for years has had a discernibly partisan bent,' she added. <br>'There are, however, more targeted approaches to addressing that bias at NPR than rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.' She backed up that thinking with her vote on Thursday morning, along with Murkowski."</p><p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/198063/two-republican-senators-vote-against-trump-defunding-sesame-street" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">newrepublic.com/post/198063/tw</span><span class="invisible">o-republican-senators-vote-against-trump-defunding-sesame-street</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CPB" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CPB</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CommunityRadio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CommunityRadio</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicTelevision" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PublicTelevision</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GOPHatesSesameStreet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GOPHatesSesameStreet</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TrumpHatesSesameStreet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TrumpHatesSesameStreet</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GOPAreHaters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GOPAreHaters</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Corporatocracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Corporatocracy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FuckTheGOP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FuckTheGOP</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CommunityRadio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CommunityRadio</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CollegeRadio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CollegeRadio</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmericanRadio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmericanRadio</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SesameStreet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SesameStreet</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MisterRogers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MisterRogers</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ReadingRainbow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ReadingRainbow</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MollyOfDenali" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MollyOfDenali</span></a></p>